Paruroctonus boreus, or the Northern Scorpion, is native to British Columbia and Alberta and is the only species of scorpion found in Canada. Though a relatively common species, it is rarely seen due to its nocturnal nature. However, like all scorpions, P. boreus glows under black light due to fluorescent compounds found in its exoskeleton and can be found in the field by using a hand-held UV lamp. Continue reading “68/150: Did you know scorpions live in Canada too?”→

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As some of you may know, we here at BIO spend a great deal of our field work sampling in Canada’s beautiful National Parks. In fact, from 2012 to 2014, BIO and Parks Canada partnered up to complete a massive national barcoding project that aimed to map out the country’s arthropod biodiversity: the Canadian National Parks (CNP) Malaise Program. I spent a lot of time planning, organizing, and coordinating this project and am thrilled to finally have results! Continue reading “DNA barcoding and Malaise traps capture the remarkable diversity in Canada’s National Parks”→

2 weeks agoby biobus_canada107/150: The loggerhead shrike ( Lanius ludovicianus) is classed as Endangered, with only 31 breeding pairs reported in Ontario in 2009, leading to many captive breeding programs. Although classed as a passerine bird (often known as perching, or song birds), shrikes hunt in an almost hawk-like way, impaling prey on spiny bushes or barbed wire fences before tearing it apart to eat. Interestingly, this method is necessary not because of the strength of the shrike’s bill, but because its feet are not strong enough to provide the resistance necessary. The diet of this bird usually consists of large insects (such…

2 weeks agoby biobus_canada109/150: The little brown bat ( myotis lucifugus ) was once a common species around North America but is now considered Endangered and protected federally in Canada under the Species at Risk Act. The little brown bats are insectivores that are 6-10cm long, weigh 5-14 grams and live for 6 to 7 years. They are nocturnal and can be found roosting in attics and barns during the summer months and in winter they hibernate in caves or mines. They are predated by small carnivores that target them when they are packed together in roost but their biggest threat is the…

6 hours agoby biobus_canada113/150: Alopecosa koponeni sp. n. is a new species described in 2014 from the arctic tundra in the vicinity of Churchill, Manitoba! It was discovered by Centre for Biodiversity Genomics resident arachnologist Dr. Gergin Blagoev and Dr. Charles Dondale from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. This new species belongs to the family known as wolf spiders (Lycosidae) with body sizes ranging from 4mm to 35mm. They make their homes in a variety of places, from the open grasslands to marshes and swamps, while occasionally being found on lawns and forests as well. These are not your regular spiders because rather than…

4 weeks agoby biobus_canada102/150: Zygentoma is a primitive, wingless order of insects encompassing approximately 120 species in 3 families. The evolution of this group can be traced back over 100 million years, having survived multiple ice ages and mass extinction events, including the fall of the dinosaurs! This group is brown or gray, wingless, flattened, covered in hair or scales, with long antennae and 3 filaments (tails) at the end of their abdomen. All Zygentoma are quick on their feet, but lack the ability to jump. Two species are common household pests. The firebrat (Thermobia domestica) prefer hot and humid environments, commonly found…

3 weeks agoby biobus_canada104/150: Humans host three types of lice, which are wingless and unable to jump so they spend their entire lifecycle on the host. The pubic louse, a blood sucking parasite that lives exclusively on humans, can thrive anywhere on the body with coarse hair, such as in beards or the eyelashes. The head and body louse share a common ancestor with a louse found on chimpanzees while the pubic louse shares an ancestor with the gorilla louse. Due to the evolutionary separation, pubic lice are very easy to distinguish from the head and body lice. They have a rounded but…

2 weeks agoby biobus_canada108/150: Dead moose, buffet, fighting arena, or dancefloor? For waltzing flies, it’s all the above This North American fly occurs in forests, aggregating around moose carcasses as they are carrion feeders. Females will wait on vegetation surrounding a carcass and watch males combat on the carcass. The flies are sexually dimorphic and males have larger antennae, head capsules, and foretarsi for competing in combat. Competing males begin to engage in combat by holding each other’s foretarsi out, then attempt to strike each other with their heads and antennae for up to two minutes. The winning male then must do an…

3 weeks agoby biobus_canada105/150: Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians found worldwide and normally at depths greater than 10 meters. Sea pens prefer deeper waters because they can avoid uprooting due to water turbulence. They live most of their lives in a sessile (immobile) state, however they can relocate and anchor themselves in more desirable areas where steadier streams of their food source, plankton, might be found. Pennatula aculeata is a gonochoric species (having distinct male and female individuals), however each individual is anything but ‘individual’; they are colonial animals. The colonies consist of multiple polyps working together on a single supporting stalk.…

6 days agoby biobus_canada111/150: Not all weevils are evil, but unfortunately this species of weevil is quite a pest. The black vine weevil has been found to be a pest of over 100 different wild and cultivated plants. Unfortunately, this species is not the lesser of two evils since its larval and adult stage are both considered pests. The larval stage feeds on the roots of many plants, while the adults feed on the greenery of them. This species of weevil is capable of reproduction through parthenogenesis. Females reproduce specifically through thelytoky, where they produce unfertilized eggs without males. Thelytoky is a rare…

3 weeks agoby biobus_canada106/150: Western flower thrips belong to the order Thysanoptera. These insects are very small (~1mm long) and elongated with long thin wings fringed with hairs. Like true bugs, they have small piercing and sucking mouthparts on the underside for feeding on plant tissue. Thrips impact many agricultural crops as they feed on the fruit of numerous plants such as apples, plums, apricots, potatoes, and alfalfa. Because these insects spend only a couple weeks developing into adults, there are overlapping generations living and feeding on the host plants, which can lead to large numbers of these insects, causing a decline in…

3 weeks agoby biobus_canada103/150: The first Saturday in September is being celebrated as National Hummingbird Day. Read on to learn more about the Calliope hummingbird. These birds are spunky, territorial, and have the nerve to chase away hawks while resembling the size of a ping pong ball! These little troopers are known as the smallest migrators traversing over 8,000 km of the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Coast and Mexico. These beautiful birds are marked with green feathers on their backs, and the males display a deep magenta on their throats. It makes sense that they were named after the Greek muse Calliope, known for…

4 days agoby biobus_canada112/150: From the Algonquin word “akemantak” meaning “wood used for snowshoes”, tamarack is a native larch to Canada with a country-wide range. Tamarack are deciduous conifers, meaning they lose their needles in the autumn! Their needles tend to turn a brilliant yellow before they fall, making tamarack a wonderful landscape tree. These hardy trees able to withstand a wide range of environmental conditions such as cold temperatures and poor soil, and are typically pioneer invaders in burn sites. Tamarack has great historic significance due to its durability and flexibility. Not only was it cut into strips for snowshoes, but it…

4 weeks agoby biobus_canada101/150: What do you get when you cross the taste of a banana with the look and texture of a mango? A pawpaw fruit! Believe it or not, the tropical-looking pawpaw tree, which is native to North America, gives the largest tree berry in all of North America. When blossoming, the common pawpaw (Asimina tribola) can give off an unpleasant odour. The overpowering odour of the common pawpaw – similar to the stench of rotting meat – attracts blowflies, from the family Calliphoridae. These flies then unknowingly pollinate the blossom, thinking it is a piece of rotting protein. Zebra swallowtail…